Kentucky 160 tuning peg history?

[RickPick]

I've been looking at a number of Kentucky 160s on-line for the past few months, and am beginning to draw a few conclusions -- probably wrong! Saga seems to have made the KM 160 for quite a while -- at least in Korea and China, if not previously in Japan. Does anyone know better or differently?
Of greater interest to me: several 160s that were definitely made in Korea (confirmed by the "Made in Korea" sticker on the back of the neck) have shiny metal finger buttons on the tuning pegs. Most (if not all) later 160s made in China have some sort of plastic or at least non-metallic finger buttons. Does anyone know if a KM 160 with shiny metal finger buttons is NECESSARILY of Korean manufacture, even though the identifying label has fallen off or been removed? Or were these shiny/blingy buttons also used on earlier Japanese or later Chinese KM 160s? Always curious, and it aint killed me yet....

[9lbShellhamer]

For what its worth- I have a KM-160 circa 2007 and it has the white ABS tuning button.

[RickPick]

Thanks. Yeah, from what I've seen almost all 160s made after about 2000 have the non-metal buttons, and I think "about 2000" is when Saga moved production from Korea to China. They MIGHT have continued with the metal buttons in China, but I haven't seen evidence of that yet. And if anyone knows when Saga replaced those shiny metal buttons (regardless of the country of manufacture), I'm all ears.

[RickPick]

Okay. Let me ask this way: Does anyone have a Kentucky 160 with shiny metal finger buttons on the tuning pegs and knows when or where it was made? Thanks.

[Folkmusician.com]

I think there was a Japan version. I am not sure if I remember correctly, but it seems like these were Mahogany back and sides in the past and I believe at least some were laminated. There should have been a KM-160s as well. The new Chinese versions are not the same as the past versions.

[RickPick]

Robert, I guess when I said "160s" I was forgetting that Saga sometimes added an "s" to the number to demarcate solid tops! I had simply meant KM 160 in the PLURAL! Sorry for the confusion. My interest in the tuning peg buttons really only stems from trying to determine which used Kentucky 160 mandolins on the web are likely to be the best (the chance to play them being a non-starter). I'm working on the idea that Korean-made mandolins (the 160 anyway) weren't as good as Japanese-made ones, and that Kentucky 160s (that's plural, not necessarily solid top!) made more recently in China are better than the Korea-made ones and better than the ones made in the early days of operations being shifted to China.

[Folkmusician.com]

Rick, it sounds like you are on track.... I am not familiar with Japanese KM-160 mandolins, but the later Chinese versions are in fact better than the early Chinese versions or the Korean versions. What you want to look at is the headstock:

Specifically the inlay and the rosewood overlay. I am pretty sure this is unique to the latest versions from around 2007 on.

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